Federal Government Seeks Increase of Nigeria’s AFREXIM Bank Shares

The
Minister of Finance, Mrs Zainab Ahmed has said Nigeria is discussing the
possibility of increasing its shareholding with AFREXIM Bank.

The
minister during a meeting with the President, African Export-Import Bank, Prof
Okey Oramah, on the sidelines of the IMF/World Bank Annual Meeting 2018 said,
Nigeria currently owns 40 per cent shares in the bank.

She said,
“We have met with a delegation of Afrexim Bank from Cairo. Nigeria is a major
shareholder in the bank. Part of what we have discussed is the possibility of
increasing our shareholding and we discussed some of the projects and
programs that Afrexim is supporting in Nigeria.

“Afrexim
has a very large portfolio in Nigeria. About 40 percent of the bank’s portfolio
is in Nigeria – support to the government but largely to the private sector. We
have the need to increase our shareholding in the bank because there is a lot
of value that we are getting from Afrexim Bank.”

On trade
agreements, the finance minister said, “Trade Agreements are not things that
the government will just enter into without due consultations with stakeholders
in the private sector. We need to discuss with the private sector and agree
with operators in that sector before we join. The discussions have been going
on but we have not reached a consensus. We need to reach a consensus before we
agree, that discussion is being driven by the Ministry of Industry, Trade and
Investment.”

Also
speaking on the high-level discussion between Nigerian officials and the
Afrexim Bank delegation, the President of the Bank, Dr. Oranma said, “Nigeria
is still a major shareholder in the bank, although of recent, it has fallen back
in terms of its relative position. That is why we have had this discussions
with the Minister of Finance to see how Nigeria could return the position it
was.

“We have
gotten assurances that the government would look at it and we hope that
Nigeria’s holdings would come to the levels that would reflect the size of the
Nigerian economy.”